Violet & Daisy: a chick-flick for psychopaths.

Have you ever just glimpsed at a film review, or poster, or what have you and thought, "I need to see that movie, immediately?" That just happened to us when we passed by IFC on West 4th and saw the poster for Shane Caruth's Upstream Color. (It's like Primer, but with worms living under your skin!)

That feeling of excitement is rare, and should be treasured for the moment of cinematic magic that it is.

However, sometimes you see a review, or in this case, a pitch over email, for a film and you think "This is perfect, but not intentionally." It's also a rare moment of celluloid joie-de-vivre, but very different from its cousin in the first example.

VIOLET & DAISY is a film of the second category, which we last heard about as the movie that Buddy Fletcher used Louisiana public pension funds to fund. There are so many parts of it that make us laugh out loud, we're not sure if maybe this was just someone messing with us.

Take a look at the email, her in its entirety:

Hi Drew,

I'm reaching out VIOLET & DAISY, starring Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls), Saiorse Ronan (The Host, The Lovely Bones), and James Gandolfini. The film is written & directed by the Oscar winning screenwriter of Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher.

(Editor's Note: Gilmore Girls, The Host and Precious are very similar genre films, for those who don't know.)

Set and taking place in NYC, Alexis and Saiorse play adorable female assassins who are hired to make a special hit (Gandolifini), but turns out unlike any other victim he is more than willing to be killed...

(Editor's Note: ADORABLE FEMALE ASSASSINS!)

I think there's a fun trend story here about kick ass young girls-- first there was Spring Breakers, now Violet & Daisy, and finally
The Bling Ring is coming out in June which also features some young rebels!

(Editor's Note: ADORABLE FEMALE ASSASSINS SPRING BREAK FOREVER!)

It's the season of celebrating the kick ass girl in Hollywood... would you be interested in seeing for possible coverage in the paper?

Now, generally we try not to glorify or "celebrate" women for being adorable killers or, in the case of The Bling Ring, for stealing jewelry from Lindsay Lohan. (Less bad, but still, womp-womp.)

However, this letter won over our hearts and we'd be happy to honor your request. Consider VIOLET & DAISY covered.

The happy couple.

As part of YouTube's "Comedy Week," Zach Galifianakis held a very special edition of his Funny or Die web series Between Two Ferns which starts out like a regular James Franco interview but then gets weird real quick. Lonely Island and Edward Norton co-star, which is great, because we haven't seen those guys in forever. (Edward Norton, where've you been hiding?)


Now that Jorma Taccone has done Girls, we are really hoping those Lonely Island guys find time to get together and make a movie/album/TV series/book of poetry/gay married to James Franco. After all, they can't busier than the Oz star, so what's their excuse for not popping up with new projects in the news every week? Laziness?

Gah!

Back in 1963, Willard Scott was not yet the famous weatherman of The Today Show; the predecessor to Al Roker. He was just a guy looking for a gig...any gig, as this newly unearthed McDonald's commercial reveals. Brought to the light of day for the burger joint's 50th anniversary, this television spot featuring Mr. Scott as Ronald McDonald raises way more questions than it answers. Mostly "How is that even a clown?", "Is that a cup on his nose?" and "Will I ever sleep again?"

Oh, and in case that wasn't terrifying enough, Mr. Scott also took over the role of Bozo the Clown for awhile:

But besides Mr. Scott's affinity for clowning around, how creepy is that McDonald's costume? Did people not know what clowns looked like back in the early 60s? Wasn't this before Stephen King wrote IT?

Jesus Christ guys, did Draper sign off on this?

Michael Shannon (left) and a Barbie.

But we're not here to pass judgement on Ms. Martinson or her colleagues. We're here to watch two dramatic readings of the email: the first by Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon-- which truly does bring to mind the actor's role as a hallucinating schizophrenic in Bug--and the latter by a Barbie doll.

Two-toned: Performers from NBC's The Sing-Off (left) and Northeastern's a capella group, the Nor'Easters.

But that was before this weekend's International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) at The Town Hall in New York, where the Nor'easters of Northeastern University took home the grand prize and NPR's Linda Holmes, writing on the radio station's Monkey See culture blog, introduced us to the idea of non-ironic rockapella and a phenomenon known as "flirting on the square."

See, according to Ms. Holmes, many of the college groups that participate in the ICCA--like the Nor'Easters-- are really talented singers who do intense numbers with very little "flair."

These are the groups, in effect, that were representing for the notion that, to paraphrase a quote from Glee, there's nothing ironic about a cappella. And in fact, contrary to the perception that a cappella is out of touch, if these groups are guilty of myopia of any sort, it's that they've tossed much of the history of music before the last five or ten years. If anything, they are overly infatuated with the current, not the ancient.

How this new kind of sincere a capella figured into NBC executives' decision to revive their dormant competition show The Sing-Off is unknown, but it's hard to imagine to imagine that anyone would want to watch an a capella group that takes itself seriously. That sort of winking self-effacement is fundamental to the guilty pleasure of the college a capella scene, and Ms. Holmes even has a name for it: "Winking on the Square."

"If "kidding on the square" means you're kidding but you're not entirely kidding, flirting on the square means that in theory, you're flirting ironically — "Look at me, I'm a nerd pretending I think I'm hot!" — but in doing so, you're also flirting actually...

It means acting like you're hot stuff and being 49 percent serious, plus or minus two percent, as the Reverb soloist did in the back half of their "This Is How We Do It"/"Bad" mash-up. He's doing his Michael Jackson, which is unrelentingly square, but that's ultimately supposed to bring it all the way back around to being adorable...And Reverb's choice — a very traditional one — is to walk a very fine line between cool and anti-cool. And the audience went bonkers for them.

While we agree with Ms. Holmes analysis, she might not be the most impartial of judges for America's interest in the a capella scene, as she readily admits to having been made "crazy" after a member of Oberlin's Obertones gave out his number while performing on stage and gushing about a British group's "cover of Paul Anka's cover of 'Wonderwall,'" which "sort of must be seen to be believed."

Although, to be fair, she was totally right:

But the question isn't whether we can believe in an x-treme "flirting on the square" a capella performance, complete with matching jumpsuits and a choreographed cover of "Wonderwall." The question is whether or not this kind of shtick will win over any new fans to the musical genre, or if the more theatrically subdued but contemporary "cool" Nor'Easters, with their renditions of hits like Rihanna's "Diamonds" and Florence + The Machine's "Drumming Song" are the wave of a capella's bright and shining future.

Don Draper, killing it. (AMC)

There has to be some sort of running gag over at AMC HQ regarding the ridiculousness of their Mad Men promos. Nothing happens! Every week, we find out that if we stay tuned next Sunday, we can watch Don pick up a phone, Betty furrow her eyebrows, and Roger say "Well, that was something!" Pete is shown changing TV stations as some sort of meta-commentary on what we wish we were doing, instead of watching Mad Men commercials.

Whatever the answer, if you've never seen one of these advertisements, The Observer made a ultimate compilation mix. Feel free to play on a loop as a substitute for actually watching the show.

Boom. There you go. Or if you need something longer, here's a great video that encapsulates all the things left unsaid on the show.

And here is Press Play's preview, which was created last year:

On the Next Mad Men from Press Play Video Blog on Vimeo.

We still assert that conceptually, these are two very different takes on the same joke: While Press Play focused on the best preview possible, we went to the gutter in order to create the worst (and most realistic) version of the vague and information-less commercials.

Elmo and Jon Hamm make art. (PBS)

Though when you think about it, the implications of Mr. Hamm's famous genitalia being so close to Elmo--who until recently, was voiced by Kevin Clash--are somewhat disturbing. Best not to think about it too hard.

...That's what she said. (Dammit!)

LL talks "Accidental Racist" (Hulu)

If you've managed to go this entire week without subjecting your ears to the Brad Paisley/LL Cool J duet "Accidental Racist," congratulations. Do not go seeking this song, which is offensive on many different levels but first and foremost, sonically. Like, it's just a hard song to listen to, with the genres of rap and country blending as seamlessly together as an Uncle Kracker video. And that's without even delving into the meaning of the song, which might have been trying for some meta-commentary on accidental racism by being the most racist song two people with good intentions could accidentally (on purpose?) make. Like, any song that references "a new fangled Django" is probably not going to be great, but the part where LL raps "If you don't judge my gold chains/I'll forget the iron chains" is so cringe-worthy it feels like watching Marnie tank Kanye West's "Stronger" in front of Charlie's new co-workers all over again! Possibly worse! (Definitely worse.)

So if you haven't listened to it, don't and just trust us that "Accidental Racist" is really, really bad... the kind of awful that can't be fixed by going on Leno and talking coherently about why you agreed to do the song in the first place.

I in no way would compare the history of the Confederate flag—the rapes, the tortures, the murders, the lynching, all the things associated with the Confederate flag—with a do-rag. However, when you think about a kid like Trayvon Martin, when you think about some of the things that happen in society based on clothing, when you put it in its proper context, it makes sense...I understand the systemic racism that exists. I get that. But you know what? If the playing field is un-level, if you feel it is unfair, then maybe putting down some of that baggage will help you make it up that hill a little easier.

It's actually easier to listen to LL Cool J try to defend the song than listen to the song itself, if that makes any sense.

Relax. (NJOY)

We've seen Stephen Dorff shill for E-Blu, but not one of the other very famous celebrities who vape have been willing to put their reputations on the line to be the face of electronic cigarettes.

Until today. Courtney Love has partnered up with NJOY to create an amazing 50-second spot that should delight anyone who is sick of those uptight, non-e-cig snobs. Or just likes to hear Ms. Love curse in a way that only the Hole singer can.

"Relax, it's a fucking NJOY" is our new favorite catchphrase. We're thinking of changing our masthead to include the new slogan.

Spring Break forever...until you stick a Q-tip in your ear. (THR)

We'd actually go see this film. Wouldn't you?